"WASHINGTON (AP) — The CIA officer whose identity was leaked to reporters sued Vice President Dick Cheney, his former top aide and presidential adviser Karl Rove on Thursday, accusing them and other White House officials of conspiring to destroy her career.

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Valerie Plame and her husband, Joseph Wilson, a former U.S. ambassador, accused Cheney, Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby of revealing Plame's CIA identity in seeking revenge against Wilson for criticizing the Bush administration's motives in Iraq.

Several news organizations wrote about Plame after syndicated columnist Robert Novak named her in a column on July 14, 2003. Novak's column appeared eight days after Wilson alleged in an opinion piece in The New York Times that the administration had twisted prewar intelligence on Iraq to justify going to war.

The CIA had sent Wilson to Niger in early 2002 to determine whether there was any truth to reports that Saddam Hussein's government had tried to buy yellowcake uranium from Niger to make a nuclear weapon. Wilson discounted the reports, but the allegation nevertheless wound up in President Bush's 2003 State of the Union address.

The lawsuit accuses Cheney, Libby, Rove and 10 unnamed administration officials or political operatives of putting the Wilsons and their children's lives at risk by exposing Plame.

"This lawsuit concerns the intentional and malicious exposure by senior officials of the federal government of ... (Plame), whose job it was to gather intelligence to make the nation safer and who risked her life for her country," the Wilsons' lawyers said in the lawsuit.

Libby is the only administration official charged in connection with the leak investigation. He faces trial in January on perjury and obstruction-of-justice charges, accused of lying to FBI agents and a federal grand jury about when he learned Plame's identity and what he subsequently told reporters.

Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald told Rove's lawyer last month that he had decided not to seek criminal charges against Rove."

"This comes less than a day after Robert Novak made it blatantly clear that the revelation of her CIA employment and her name was absolutely not part of any conspiracy — and that the CIA's chief spokesman himself said nothing to him about the danger he might put her in by naming her. Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, Valerie. Because, you see, if the suit is summarily dismissed, she and Joe will be laughingstocks. And if it goes any further, Dick and Karl and Scooter will have the right to do discovery — and then, I believe, Val 'n' Joe will reap the whirlwind."

"Robert Novak, some other commentators and the Administration continue to try to completely distort the role that Valerie Wilson played with respect to Ambassador Wilson's trip to Niger. The facts are beyond dispute. The Office of the Vice President requested that the CIA investigate reports of alleged uranium purchases by Iraq from Niger. The CIA setup a meeting to respond to the Vice President's inquiry. Another CIA official, not Valerie Wilson, suggested to Valerie Wilson's supervisor that the Ambassador attend that meeting. That other CIA official made the recommendation because that official was familiar with the Ambassador's vast experience in Niger and knew of a previous trip to Africa concerning uranium matters that had been undertaken by the Ambassador on behalf of the CIA in 1999. Valerie Wilson's supervisor subsequently asked her to relay a request from him to the Ambassador that he would like the Ambassador to attend the meeting at the CIA. Valerie Wilson did not participate in the meeting.

As the CIA itself has officially confirmed, Valerie Wilson did not send Ambassador Wilson to Niger and she neither suggested him nor recommended him for the trip. Furthermore, the Ambassador agreed to travel to Niger pro bono with only his travel expenses being paid."

Joe, you know you go to hell for lying. Guy has an imagination that is for sure.

How about this. I think that Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame damaged national security by plotting to undermine the President of the United States in a time of war. How about a civil lawsuit filed against them by a group of Americans who were put unncessarily in harms way by their actions?

UPDATE: I'm reading the filing, and I have one thought: "Can you say counter suit and possible sanctions against Wilson/Plame attorneys for what amounts to a frivilous filing?" This thing is a joke and will be tossed on day one. Tom McGuire: "Well - I stand by my position that the plaintiffs will have huge problems gathering (presumably classified) evidence and recreating secret grand jury testimony, not to mention establishing damages and demonstrating that the defendants were not simply acting in their capacity as public officials."

Which means that either Wilson and Plame are dumber than they look, or their attorneys are, or there is something else behind it. I suspect the latter.

UPDATE IV: Clarice Feldman article in American Thinker, has background on the "funding". Here's a website to register "http://www.indict-the-wilsons.com", anyone game?

UPDATE V: Seixon Blog points to VIPS being behind the entire charade from the beginning - which is correct, but they are only a quarter of the "cabal". I've pointed to the VIPS involvement - especially one Larry C. Johnson - who has alway seemed to have more than an "casual" amount of background knowledge, specifically of the "street meeting" a certian invidividual had with Novak. Others involved include familar members of the media (one or two who may be in a little hot water with Fitzgerald's investigation), along with some members of the DNC. I know complicated, but I'm going over piles of notes, emails, tips, etc. I'll have more as time goes on. Again, the suit is a piece of crap legally (looks like it was drafted by the DU) and won't get past the hearing stage and will be tosssed, but that wasn't their intention anyway. The only it was filed was to keep the Joe and Valerie show on the radar for a book. More to come.